{"id":364285,"date":"2025-02-03T08:31:37","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T07:31:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=364285"},"modified":"2025-02-03T08:31:39","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T07:31:39","slug":"revolving-door-bidens-ocean-energy-chief-went-to-work-for-major-offshore-wind-company-after-admin-boosted-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=364285","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Revolving Door\u2019: Biden\u2019s Ocean Energy Chief Went to Work for Major Offshore Wind Company After Admin Boosted Industry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Daily Caller<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Nick Pope<\/strong><\/a>
Contributor<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amanda Lefton, the former director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), went to work for a major offshore wind company after the agency boosted the industry and worked to limit offshore fossil fuel development on her watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lefton spearheaded the Biden administration\u2019s effort<\/a> to build out 30 gigawatts of offshore wind<\/a> capacity along America\u2019s coasts by 2030 in her capacity as the leader of BOEM, playing a key role in the administration\u2019s all-of-government offshore wind push from February 2021 to February 2023, according<\/a> to her LinkedIn profile. She then went<\/a> to work on green energy-related issues for Foley Hoag LLC<\/a> \u2014 a major D.C. law firm \u2014 for approximately six months and then joined RWE, a major player in the offshore wind space, as the head of development for the east coast in July 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is hardly surprising given the incestuous relations between the Biden BOEM and the wind industry. On Ms. Lefton\u2019s watch the agency helped rush the so-far disastrous Vineyard Wind project through. BOEM even waived the financial assurance requirements intended to protect the taxpayers from the costs of decommissioning the project when complete (while, in the Gulf, it was modifying those same requirements in an attempt to drive small oil and gas companies out of business),\u201d Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Public\u2019s Trust, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. \u201cFormer Deputy Secretary of the Interior Tommy Beaudreau, her boss during most of her tenure at BOEM, had previously represented Vineyard Wind. This revolving door has been spinning everywhere the Biden administration and the climate sector meet. The players remain the same, the only thing that changes is who signs the paychecks.\u201d (RELATED: Revolving Door: It Took CNN Less Than 48 Hours To Hire Comey\u2019s Assistant)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Dem Senator Who Decried \u2018Revolving Door\u2019 Poses With Lobbyists Who Donated To Her Campaignhttps:\/\/t.co\/ZuJkFb601w<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) May 10, 2024<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

RWE is headquartered in Germany, but it has offices in New York City and other American cities. The company became<\/a> the largest offshore wind leaseholder in the New York Bight lease area in 2022, the same year it won a lease for floating offshore wind development off the coast of Northern California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRWE abides by all conflict-of-interest laws and regulations,\u201d a RWE spokesperson told the DCNF when reached for comment on behalf of Lefton. The company did not address questions about Lefton\u2019s compensation or whether her intimate knowledge of BOEM played any role in the firm\u2019s decision to hire her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam Eaton, the CEO of RWE Offshore Holdings, praised Lefton\u2019s \u201cknow-how navigating all levels of government\u201d that helped lead to approvals for two major offshore wind farms in her tenure at BOEM in a statement<\/a> addressing her hiring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Chamberlain noted in his statement, Lefton ran BOEM when the agency greenlit<\/a> the massive Vineyard Wind development off the coast of Nantucket in May 2021. Lefton said at the time that the Vineyard Wind approval \u201crepresents the power of a government-wide approach to offshore wind permitting, taking stakeholder ideas and concerns into consideration every step of the way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Vineyard Wind later became the subject of controversy when one of the development\u2019s turbine blades malfunctioned, fractured and fell<\/a> into the Atlantic. The resulting debris<\/a> floated its way to nearby beaches, forcing their closure as workers cleared the pollution and enraging locals<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, BOEM finalized<\/a> the most restrictive five-year schedule for oil and gas leasing in modern U.S history in December 2023. While Lefton was no longer running the agency at that point in time, BOEM published the schedule approximately 500 days late<\/a>, meaning that the agency was dragging its feet on the oil and gas leasing schedule while Lefton was in charge of BOEM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lefton is also an on-the-record opponent of the continued long-term use of fossil fuels, telling E&E News<\/a> in May 2022 that \u201cwe have to transition to clean renewable energy in order to fight climate change\u201d and that she favors policies like incorporating climate costs into oil and gas leasing analyses and making use of the social cost of carbon metric. The outlet later reported<\/a> on Jan. 24 that Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is considering nominating Lefton to run the state\u2019s Department of Environmental Conservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter\u2019s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amanda Lefton, the former director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), went to work for a major offshore wind company after the agency boosted the industry and worked to limit offshore fossil fuel development on her watch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":364290,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691833000,691818336,691820979,691818118,691831235],"class_list":["post-364285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-amanda-lefton","tag-biden-administration","tag-bureau-of-ocean-energy-management-boem","tag-green-energy","tag-offshore-wind-osw","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0AmandaLeftonTOP.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1wLz","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":372954,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=372954","url_meta":{"origin":364285,"position":0},"title":"Beach 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